Accident
by KaiPhoenix
Summary: 'What happend to Haruno san? And who is that man'...'What on earth are you talking about? Sakura is fine and Sasuke's been your teammate for years.'
1. Akatsuki

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto or anything else affiliated with Masashi Kishimoto-sensei...and I gain no profit from this work of fanfiction

**Chapter 1: Akatsuki**

Naruto screamed as the Akatsuki continued their jutsu that would strip his body of the Kyuubi demon within him. Of course it would rip his soul out of his body at the same time, but the Akatsuki didn't really seem to care about that happening. Every nerve in his body was filled with white hot pain as his mind threatened to crack under the pressure. There was no room in his mind to wonder at how the infamous group had gotten their hands on him, much less wonder where his friends were. He was too preoccupied with the sensation that he was being ripped in half at an agonizingly slow pace as well as feeling as if he was being melted at the subatomic level. He had almost given up on fighting against the jutsu he was fighting just so he wouldn't have to _feel_ anymore.

Suddenly, it stopped.

No explanation, it just stopped.

Oh he still hurt plenty, but the pain was no longer growing. He even ached worse than after the battle with Sasuke at the Valley of the End, and that had been, hands down, the most painful experience of his life. Barring, of course, the pain he had been in immediately following his second battle with the avenger when they had come across one another years later. That had been a pretty painful experience too, but he had healed much quicker after that battle then the one before.

_Great, I'm dead. But why does being dead hurt so much? Gaara said when this happened to him that he didn't feel anything except that he was all alone. So why does it feel like I've been ripped to shreds, but it also feels like I'm healing? Course it always did hurt during the healings, especially when Tsunade-bachan wanted me to learn a lesson or something... _

He cracked an eye open and was surprised to see a small, dark-haired girl sitting next to him, patiently bandaging his wounds. He hadn't even felt her approach him, much less start to treat his injuries. She smiled at him when she noticed that his eyes were open before calling out to someone else.

"Ka-chan! He's awake!"

Over her words were voices; he recognized the voices of the Akatsuki members, but there was one voice that he had never heard before in his life. It was a woman's voice, but it sounded similar to one he had known since he had first become a genin, and while it was familiar, it was...different. It was as if the woman was talking with an accent while trying to impersonate one of his closest friends. Naruto's eyes darted to where the sound of voices was coming from, but he was at the wrong angle to see anything about the people he could hear.

"You dare to attack one of my own after the warning that you were given?" The woman's voice was soft, yet the edge in it sent chills up Naruto's spine. This was not someone to mess with. Her voice glinted with supressed violence, worse than any kind he had ever heard before. Much worse than even the hint of amused violence that had always been present in the voice of the now deceased Snake Sannin.

"It is of no concern to you, woman," Uchiha Itatchi's voice was emotionless, as always, "No matter what warnings you may think you have given the Akatsuki, it is of no matter. This is--"

"Of no concern?" The woman's voice grew louder and the threatened violence of before became a promise of what would soon follow, "Of no concern? How can it not be of concern to me when you take my husband and use your forbidden jutsus on him to pull out of his body something that has no place leaving it?"

"Look, yeah, if you leave now with the girl, we just might let you live, yeah." Deidara's voice sounded amused, "We might even forget that you interfered with this business, yeah."

The little girl looked into Naruto's blue eyes and he blinked, confused, into crystal blue orbs much like his own. Her smile faltered as she saw the puzzlement in his eyes before helping him to sit up. For all that she looked to be about 7 years old she was able to help him sit without appearing to strain herself. He hissed in pain as the wound on his chest reopened and started to bleed sluggishly. The girl sighed, sounding exasperated, and placed a hand on the bandage covering said wound. Naruto tensed as he felt the girl gather her chakra, but didn't fight the jutsu that she employed on him as he felt the healing ability of the Kyuubi being enhanced for a few moments, allowing the wound to seal itself and heal completely. He was momentarily startled, but sagged after his exhaustion caught up with him. It felt like he had been put under one heck of a healing jutsu, one that required just as much of his chakra as the one employing the jutsu. The last thing he heard before drifting into unconsciousness was the strange yet familiar voice of the woman standing somewhere between himself, the girl and the Akatsuki members present in the cavernous room.

"I don't want you to 'forget' this 'interference'," the woman's voice echoed around her ominously as it seemed to reverberate with the chakra that she was unleashing from herself, amplifying her very presence it seemed, "I want each and every one of you to remember my warning until the day this pathetic excuse for an organization is nothing more than a speck of dust on the shelves of time."

**A/N:** This story has been sitting on my computer for a while, and once I gifured out how to put stories onto this site I figured 'why not?'...I know I haven't finished my other story (not even close to finishing it actually), but I wanted to know if this one would be well received or not...just curious, y'know? This isn't a oneshot on my computer, but I don't know if anyone would want to have the other chapters...like my other story, this one has pathetically short chapters. I'm still not used to putting my stories down in words, usually they spend most of their time rolling around in my head.


	2. Gaki

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto nor anything that belongs to Kishimoto-sensei. I don't even properly own the idea for this fanfiction that I'm writing, I got the idea after reading numerous other fics.

**Chapter 2: Gaki**

Tsunade reminded herself again and again that ninja didn't cry, but that didn't stop the tears from rolling down her cheeks as she stared down at the gaki that she cared so much about.

Naruto lay in the hospital bed. He had wires hooked up to various parts of his body to monitor his vital signs. His breathing was shallow and his heartbeat irregular. He was pale enough that it was almost impossible to tell the difference between the bandages that covered most of his body and his actual skin. The bandages themselves were only noticeable due to the texture of the fabric as well as the occasional pink tinge that showed through, despite the fact that they had been recently.

He had been like this ever since being brought back by the rest of his team. He hadn't even twitched a muscle in 3 days. Not even when they changed the bandages covering the worst of the wounds, wounds that were taking far too long to heal.

She was getting worried. This was Naruto, he healed of everything. Even if he was never completely healed within 2 days of an injury, he was at least awake. But no, he had lain in a comatose state for 3 days, almost 4.

What worried her even more was the fact that she only felt one chakra inside of him. In the 7 years that she had known Naruto, she had always been able to sense the second chakra inside of him. Sure, sometimes it was barely visible, but it was always there nonetheless. A flickering candle next to his own powerful sunlight of energy when he wasn't actively using it.

Now...she only felt one.

And that scared her far more than anything else.

She glanced to the door of the room as it slid open.

"Has there been any change?"

She looked up meeting a pair of obsidian eyes as well as green. Kakashi wasn't with them today. They usually visited Naruto as a team, but Tsunade knew that Kakashi was on guard duty right now. She also knew that he would come by later to check on his former student.

She shook her head sadly.

Naruto's teammates sat in the chairs just inside the doorway, near enough in case they were needed, but no longer blocking the doorway in case anyone needed to enter. Iruka's class would be over in about an hour. He was never late, unless someone was given detention, but that didn't happen as often now that Konohamaru and his group of friends had become genin.

Sakura gazed sadly at her friend as he lay unresponsive on the bed. He would have died right there where they found him at that ridiculous altar if she hadn't been trained in what to do. The Akatsuki had, apparently, been unable to rip the Kyuubi out of his body, although she was unsure just how he had exactly accomplished that feat. Even with her training they had almost lost the usually orange-clad sunshine. He had become more than just a teammate that she fussed at; he had become the little brother that her parents had never been able to give her.

Sasuke did not gaze at his best friend in the same manner that his pink-haired teammate did. His eyes passed over the prone figure and switched easily over to the life-support equipment that he was hooked up to. Inside, the last Uchiha smiled sadly as he remembered being in a position similar to Naruto's after his return to Konoha. Naruto had dragged him back from Orochimaru 5 years ago. Sasuke smiled a small sad smile that no one noticed. He had kicked and screamed the whole way back to Konoha, like a spoiled little brat.

His eyes hardened momentarily as he remembered what the dobe had looked like when he found him. Naruto had been tied back across a stone altar of some sort. His body had been slashed along his arms, severing his muscles from where they would normally be attached to his bones. He had a shallow wound in his chest that had sluggishly been healing. His head had been caked in blood, dyeing his normally blonde hair a dark red in most places--and that was the least of the damage that he had seen. His skin was paler than anything Sasuke had ever seen before, paler even than his own skin tone. He had called out to Sakura, flaring his chakra so that she would be able to find them sooner. She was the medic-nin and would know how best to help Naruto.

It had taken them several days to carry Naruto back to Konoha. Normally it would have only taken one day, maybe a day and a half, but they had to go slowly, very slowly so as not to cause any more internal damage to their friend. Sasuke hadn't been entirely sure what Sakura meant by that, but she had been adamant about it, and Sasuke wasn't about to do anything against her. Especially if following her orders would keep his brother alive.

He was brought out of his thoughts when he heard a low moan of pain coming from the bedridden boy. The first sound Naruto had made since they had found him.

**A/N:** Hope the second chapter wasn't too much of a let down...it gave me headaches...


	3. Huh?

**Disclaimer:** I do not own anything related to Naruto, all rights belong to Kishimoto-sensei or whoever owns them.

**Chapter 3: Huh?**

Slowly, ever so slowly, crystal blue eyes opened and peered up at the ceiling. A confused expression slowly appeared on the blonde's face as if he didn't understand where he was. He groaned as light flickered through the curtains covering the hospital windows and pierced through his sensitive eyes. His eyes slipped closed once more as he tried, in vain, to banish the headache that was starting to form behind his eyes.

"Gaki, you better have a good explanation for why you aren't healing as fast as you used to." The voice he heard was supposed to sound angry, but it held a lot of affection as well.

His eyes popped open as he recognized that voice. He was startled to see Tsunade-sama leaning over him, checking his vital signs, with a worried expression over her young-seeming face. He sat up, stifling a groan as the sudden change on position elicited a painful reaction from his body. This was a painful reminder that he was indeed awake, that what he was seeing was actually there, and that, no, this wasn't a dream.

"T-Tsunade-sama! What are you doing here?" His shocked voice was met with slight annoyance.

"What do you mean 'what am I doing here'? I work here, remember?" Her eyes narrowed slightly as she processed the honorific he had used.

He looked at her in disbelief for a few seconds, his mind telling him that it was absolutely impossible for her to be here. His first thought after coming to terms with the reality that this wasn't a dream was that this was a genjutsu, but any enemy he had wouldn't be so stupid as to use someone who had been dead for almost a year as a way to get any kind of information out of him. He decided that something had gone wrong with the jutsu that he had tried to use to escape his captors. He filed this information away as something to talk with Mika about later, and decided to see who else was with them in the room. His squinted eyes (in an effort to relieve the headache brought on by the sunlight) passed through the room. They widened upon meeting the gazes of Sakura and Sasuke.

"Whoa, what happened to Haruno-san? And who is that man?"

Sakura did a double take on being referred to in such an unfamiliar way. Sasuke blinked but gave no other show that his best friend had just asked who he was. Tsunade turned the blonde's head so that he was looking into her eyes.

"What on earth are you talking about? Sakura is fine and Sasuke's been your teammate for years." Her voice was firm, thinking that the young man was playing a joke on them. After all, he wasn't Konohagakure's biggest prankster for nothing, even if he had toned it down considerably in the past few years.

The blue eyes closed in disbelief and he rubbed at his eyes, thinking that he was, somehow, still asleep despite the pain from earlier. When he opened his eyes he was greeted with the same apparition as before. Tsunade-sama was looking at him like he was trying to pull a joke; Haruno-san was looking slightly worried, and the raven-haired man looked annoyed. Though if he hadn't been living with Mika since he was a small child he would never have been able to pick up on the subtle way the man's emotions were displayed on his face. He brought his hands up into a single seal and released a small amount of his chakra in an attempt to dispel what he thought was an illusion being placed on him. When nothing happened his eyes narrowed as he saw several similarities between the raven-haired man Tsunade-sama had called Sasuke and his wife.

The others were a little surprised at the obvious attempt at dispelling a genjutsu that the blonde made, although there was no genjutsu in place in the room that any of them knew about. When he spoke, his voice was more controlled than the other three had ever heard before coming from the mouth of their blonde friend. His voice was serious and a little suspicious; as if he believed that he was under a genjutsu and unable to dispel it and was being interrogated.

"What do you mean he has been my teammate for years? I have never before met this man in my life."

Tsunade blinked. Now she was worried, it didn't seem like the gaki was joking. He sounded serious when he said he didn't know the Uchiha. She sighed and rubbed her temples with her fingers.

"What on earth did those cloaked idiots do to you?" Her eyes snapped opened to stare into blue eyes. "That is, I assume it was the Akatsuki who had you--"

She was cut off by the younger blonde, "Tsunade-sama, though I do not wish to be rude, I am not going to answer any questions until you tell me who that man is and why he looks like Mika."

Sakura sighed, "Naruto, what are you talking about? Sasuke's been on a team with us since we were 12." Her eyes narrowed for a moment in confusion, "And who is Mika?"

The blonde's eyes narrowed in annoyance and…was that compressed anger they saw reflected in his gaze?

"Did you just call me Naruto?"

Sasuke spoke for the first time since the blonde had awoken, "Would you prefer the title dobe or possibly baka instead?"

The two women in the room only showed mild surprise at the fact that the heir to the Uchiha Clan had just made a joke. He had become a lot more easy-going since his stint in Otogakure, but every time he made a joke it surprised them. Whether or not they were becoming more or less used to it. They did expect the blonde to retort with his usual insult to the Uchiha, though, and were very surprised when it didn't come. Instead, the blonde blinked in surprise and then scowled.

"I'm going to pretend that I didn't hear that, because my mother taught me to have manners with someone that I just met." He turned his gaze towards the pink-haired kunoichi, "What do you mean 'who is Mika'?" His blue eyes began to look worried and he dropped the scowl.

He had subtly spread his chakra throughout the room, and it didn't feel like a genjutsu. He had confirmed, to himself at least, that the young-seeming blonde next to him was indeed Tsunade and the pink-haired kunoichi standing next to the raven-haired man was Haruno Sakura. His wife may tease him about his inability to use his chakra like she did, but no one could ever fool him about their chakra signatures. And he would recognize the signatures of these two woman almost as well as his own blood family on the basis alone that they _were_ family, to him at least. The raven-haired man's chakra was familiar, but he couldn't place how just yet…

His question was met with silence. He was beginning to feel even more uneasy, if that was even possible. Well, might as well play it out like his father would…like trying a joke. That always seemed to work for the man that had oh so graciously donated half of his genes to create the whiskered young man that was currently sitting on the hospital bed. Man, he hated hospitals.

"What? Did I grow my tail back or something?"

This small attempt at humor only seemed to make the situation worse. The blonde was silent as he looked into the shocked faces of the three who sat in the room with him. His mind was still trying to figure out the impossibility of Tsunade-sama being alive, much less why Haruno-san looked much younger than he last remembered. He wasn't an idiot, but he knew that this was all real in a very frightening way. He massaged his temples for a moment in a vain attempt to relieve his ever-growing headache before he sighed.

"Naruto, you don't have a mother." Tsunade began, ignoring the question about a tail when she heard the subtle attempt at a joke being inserted into his tone. She was glad that the young man had _finally_ done something to indicate that some part of this was a joke, albeit not a very funny one. "She died when you were born, remember?"

The young man blinked, "Why do you keep calling me Naruto? And what do you mean my mother died when I was little?"

His eyes widened as the slight fog that had accompanied the headache and, unfortunately, lingered over his thoughts since awakening in such a familiar place finally lifted from his mind. He paled as his eyes, once again, swept over those in the room with him, his mind finally clicking with that missing piece of information that he had been looking for since seeing Tsunade-sama leaning over him in bed. He leapt from the bed and darted to the window, flinging the curtains back completely he gaped at the sight of the Hokage Mountain.

He didn't register when three pairs of hands shot out and grabbed him from behind, pulling him away from the window. He didn't register the worried looks on the faces of the three who now stood in front of him as they placed him back on the bed in a seated position. His mind had stopped processing information with the shock of seeing only five faces carved into the mountain.

**A/N:** So, how was that? Any guesses on what's going on? I'm interested in what my readers think of my story. Alas, none have been so kind as to leave a review...yes, that was a not so subtle hint.


	4. Discussions

**Dislaimer:** I do not nor have I ever owned anything in relation to the Naruto series, those rights belong to Kishimoto-sensei...I am not gaining anything from this work of fiction except for personal satisfaction.

**Chapter 4: Discussions**

The sun rose slowly, casting its light over Konohagakure. While several shinobi were on duty, and still others were up and about, doing one thing or another, most of the village's civilian population was still asleep.

He sighed once more; they just didn't give up on this kind of thing, did they? It was becoming more than a little annoying, to say the least. Tsunade-sama was absolutely certain that he was suffering from amnesia, Haruno-san agreed with him as well as Uchiha-san.

The last two continued to encourage him to call them by their given names, but he couldn't do so to, number one, someone that he held respect for and was his superior and for, number two, someone who he didn't really know.

Oh the name Uchiha was known to him (who hadn't heard of the clan that had been in charge of Konoha's once massive Military Police Force?), but he didn't personally know anyone by the name of Uchiha Sasuke. He had heard _of_ him, it had been taught in his history lessons. He had told all this to the five who had been allowed access to him during his debriefing after being released from the hospital initially, although things were a bit awkward during the debriefing as well as the events directly before it. Such as his choice in clothing, of all the odd things.

There had been some confusion when he had been given an orange…_thing_ to wear. He had taken one look at it before laughing until tears trailed out of his eyes.

"Where on earth did you get _that_? And please tell me you're not seriously expecting me to wear it!"

That had earned him a wonderful imitation of a goldfish. He was a little afraid of just what would happen if he didn't find a way to fix whatever had thrown him here of all places. He had then been loaned a traditional jounin outfit by the Uchiha that had, more or less, fit him. The sleeves where long and baggy enough to hide weapons in, but not baggy enough as to hinder his movements in a fight, the cloth wasn't black, but a mixture of grays and browns so as to blend in better. The pants where much the same, except he wrapped his shins protectively. He wore combat boots that went half-way up his shin, covering the bandages a little. He was a little relieved that the boots had been his own, supposedly. He declined wearing the jounin vest, and but tied his hitai-ate around his neck. He was exceedingly grateful to have his own hitai-ate, he had worked hard for that sucker.

He had been able to dress himself, something he was exceedingly grateful for, despite his injuries. When he thought of how embarrassing it could have been had he needed help…He shook his head to clear those thoughts away. He knew how important it was to not aggravate one's injuries when one was dressing, so he hadn't worried about hurting himself, he did know what he was doing after all, but it had taken a few moments to convince the others of that. They seemed to by under the impression that he was very accident prone for some reason…

After first seeing the sight of Hokage Mountain with only five heads, he had fainted (yes he knew that most shinobi absolutely loathed to have that particular word be used in the same sentence as themselves, but he was trained to know the difference, and he had definitely fainted, not passed out). When he had finally regained consciousness he had been greeted with the sight that the previous three people as well as two more, both male. Tsunade-sama had affirmed that he was physically capable of leaving the hospital as long as he didn't do anything too stupid like using the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu or the completed form (or the uncompleted form) of the Rasengan repeatedly (or at all if he had correctly interpreted her glares) for at least a few days.

When he had heard these specific restrictions, he had looked at her like she had lost her mind and told her that he didn't have the kind of chakra to pull off those types of jutsus. He had been graced with five faces showing a myriad of emotions ranging from disbelief to shock to something that was close to fear, but of what, he wasn't really certain.

He still didn't understand just why they had looked at him like that, and, frankly, having those type of reactions coming from people that he had known all his life really didn't make him feel any more relaxed about his current situation. Sadly, it only reasserted just where he was and who they thought he was supposed to be. He mentally sighed; it would do him no good to do so audibly so many times in one day after all.

They were now all currently standing or sitting in the Hokage's office giving a report on what had happened during the disastrous mission that he had, apparently, been inured on. He was silent as the raven-haired Uchiha and Haruno-san spoke. He was a little surprised to hear just how injured he had been. He hadn't remembered any of _that_ happening to him even before he had enacted his jutsu to escape. It was a pity that he couldn't really remember what, exactly, had happened after he had finished the seals.

His mind was uneasy; he knew that there had been _something_. Something that had happened after the fight with that snake-teme with Mika. Something that was important, but that he couldn't place. He flinched back and had a kunai in his hand when he felt someone his chakra web didn't know touch his shoulder. He blinked for a few moments when it registered that Uchiha-san was staring at him awkwardly, as was everyone else in the room.

"Ah, gomen," he slipped the kunai back into his sleeve, "I'm a little jumpy, I'm sure you understand. Normally it's not like this at home, but my web didn't recognize your chakra signature quickly enough-" He cut himself off quickly when he saw the (rather annoying) bewildered looks that he was getting.

He sighed once again at the looks that he was receiving. If he had to explain just who he was, then things were going to get really complicated. He wished that Mika was here with him. He prayed that she was not only alive, but well and he fervently hoped that their mission had, at least, been successful in the one way that really counted. However, he had the sinking suspicion that things were going to become far more difficult, and potentially dangerous, than they had been in the beginning.

Tsunade had not given him one of the looks that the others had; she had merely raised an eyebrow at the mention of a chakra web. Those were extremely rare in occurrence for a shinobi of any kind. They required a specific style of chakra use that made it almost impossible to then use the same chakra in ways that Naruto was prone to using. Oh, it didn't mean that the shinobi in question couldn't use his or her chakra offensively; it just meant that they had to use a far more subtle approach. Even more subtle then the way that a medi-nin would use chakra; an approach that Tsunade _knew_ was impossible for Naruto due to the Kyuubi demon within him.

She would have been positive that the blonde haired shinobi in front of her wasn't Uzumaki Naruto by that fact alone if not for the blood tests she had run. They had matched almost completely with the gaki's own records. The slight deviation wasn't enough for him to be a completely different person. Maybe the brat had fully merged with the fox, which would certainly explain the difference. However, it would still, theoretically, still leave him with too much of the wrong kind of chakra to use in the way that he had said he could use. She was a little afraid of what would happen if he really _was_ her little gaki.

Something had happened since he had been abducted, something that she didn't think she would like. Not at all. She spoke for the first time since Sasuke and Sakura had started their report.

"Chakra web? Naruto, you don't have the correct type of chakra to even _start_ a chakra web's construction, let alone uphold a completed one." Her words were careful. If he had merged with the Kyuubi, then his entire personality might have changed.

The blonde sighed, "Why must you insist on calling Naruto? I am aware that I look like him, but what makes you think I _am _him?"

"Naruto, if this is some kind of joke, please stop it, we are not amused."

"Haruno-san, first of all, I do not normally joke about pretty much anything, especially not something as serious as this. Second of all, my name is _not_ Naruto." He spoke calmly, as if he was speaking to someone younger than him rather than the same age.

"If you are not Uzumaki then who are you?" Sasuke's voice was cool.

"I never said my name wasn't Uzumaki." Came the equally cool reply, "However, until I know more about the situation that I am currently in, I will not tell you who, exactly, I am."

This remark raised a few eyebrows and drew an exasperated sigh from one blonde.

"Honestly, you people are familiar to me, but you're not the people that _I_ know. In fact, one of you I have never even met!" the young Uzumaki punctuated this remark with a flick of his gaze as the Uchiha before he let out another sigh, "Why don't we just start with each other's names and go from there?" He looked pleadingly at the other occupants of the Hokage's office in silent supplication.

Tsunade thought this over quickly and carefully, if what he was saying was true, then they had a lot more problems to deal with than she had initially thought. If this young man sitting in front of her _was_ the knucklehead more commonly known as Uzumaki Naruto and he _had_ merged with the Kyuubi no Kitsune and this was the result of said merger, then they might have to start some things, like his friendship with the Uchiha, all over again. First, they would have to find out just what he knew from Naruto's memories and what had carried over from the Kyuubi as well as what thought processes were lost during the merger. She figured that the Akatsuki had, somehow, caused the merger to react in this way when they had tried to remove the demon fox from the boy.

"Very well, would you like us to introduce ourselves, or would you like to tell us what you know about each of us as well as the relationships that you can remember having with each of us, if any." Tsunade spoke calmly as she raised a hand to silence the protestations of the other four in the room while fixing her eyes on the younger blonde.

The other blonde thought it over for a moment, before answering, "Why don't you tell me your names and then I will tell you what I know about you. Afterwards I will tell you my name and you can tell me what you know about me. Is that fair?"

Tsunade glanced at the others in the room and waited for each to nod their acceptance before clearing her throat to begin. It was left unspoken that they would talk from oldest to the youngest.

"My name is Hayashi Tsunade." She patiently waited for the young man to speak his own piece on who he remembered her as.

"Also known as the Legendary Sucker as well as one of the best medi-nins in the history of the Elemental Countries. Well known for her addiction to sake and loathing of perverts. The Slug-Sannin as well as the student of the Sandaime Hokage and granddaughter of the Shodai Hokage; the very first female kage as the Godaime Hokage of Konohagakure. Uses a genjutsu to hide her real age as well as pummels anyone who makes a comment about it in an untoward manner." Here he paused for a moment as if he didn't want to add the more personal comments of what he knew about her, but pushed on. "Tsunade-sama, at least the one that I remember, was like a grandmother to me, she helped to raise me after my mother died a few years after I entered the Academy. She…died…last year…in the war with Otogakure."

His throat closed and he looked at the ground as he remembered his grandmother's last stand against the Snake-Sannin. She had injured him enough that he had pulled away from the battle and wasn't able to attack Konohagakure for several months afterwards. The wounds that she had inflicted had left enough damage for Mika to bring the snake-teme down in their last confrontation. At least, he hoped the snake-teme had died. There was never any real way to tell with that…_thing_.

His opening words on Tsunade brought a few smiles to the faces of those in the room, but the last sentence wiped those faces clean of any mirth. A cold feeling settled across the room as they waited for the younger blonde to get a hold on his emotions, when he finally did, he turned to Kakashi. It was an unspoken agreement with everyone in the room that they would put off individual reactions to things until after everyone had heard what the blonde jounin knew about them, whether or not any of it was actually true.

"Hatake Kakashi." Kakashi's voice was lazy, yet his visible eye was sharp and his posture reflected both the tone of this voice as well as the attentiveness of his gaze. Something that the three young jounins wished they could pull off as well.

By now, the blonde had his emotions under more control; he smiled at the seemingly one-eyed man before leaning back in his chair to gaze lazily at the older male.

"Son of the White Fang, pupil of the Yondaime Hokage. The only non-Uchiha to wield the sharingan, though only in one eye. Currently at the rank of Jounin-sensei, former ANBU, though he does take the odd ANBU mission now and then," here he leaned forward and the lazy smile become more a grin then anything else, "At least, that's what I've heard, not that anyone would actually _tell_ me anything of the sort, and then there were all those rather suspicious stops to the hospital to heal injuries that are quite uncommon unless those type of missions are happening…"

The blonde trailed off as the other two parts of Team 7 glanced at their sensei, who, for the most part, managed to look a little sheepish, but curious as to how the blonde came across such information. Iruka merely raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. Tsunade wondered just where the gaki had heard that and was briefly concerned about the security of the more confidential files in her office. Not that she didn't trust the younger blonde, but some of those things could prove to be more embarrassing than dangerous anyway. After a moment the blonde continued as if he had never stopped.

"Infamous for reading the orange-bound Icha Icha Series in the most inappropriate places," this time Tsunade and Sakura shot Kakashi scathing glances before tuning in once more, "Spends several hours a day at the Memorial Stone for the Fallen, causing him to always be late to just about every meeting he has to go to, although that's not always the reason for his tardiness. He is the last of his own genin team, instructor included; and has, to this date, trained only one genin team himself. Said team being the infamous Team 7: consisting of Haruno Sakura, the renowned medi-nin; Uchiha Sasuke, the traitor-

_(at this mention, Sasuke flinched almost imperceptively)_

-and Uzumaki Naruto, the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi no Kitsune." He paused again and the grin faded slightly into a sad imitation of a smile as his eyes dimmed once again, "Hatake Kakashi passed away 3 months ago in a raid from Otogakure, but not before he took out the Oto spy, Yakushi Kabuto and an entire contingent of Oto shinobi, all by himself I might add."

The dimmed eyes did not register the sudden intake of breath that went throughout the room at the mention of the silver-haired man's death. Really, Tsunade thought that they should have expected something like this to happen, if mention of her own death was anything to base things on Naruto's memories were very skewed at the moment. It seemed, however, that they group hadn't really registered mention of her own supposed demise as clearly as the mention of Kakashi's. Probably due to the fact that there were more details concerning it, but she wasn't so sure. Maybe it was because they had known the masked man longer or something…

She shook her head, more had been said about the old scarecrow overall than had been said about her. What little had been said had an undertone of immense pain that was not unlike how she had spoken of Konoha in general after the deaths of her brother and husband so many years ago…before a blonde-haired gaki had brought light back into her life. A gaki that seemed to carry the same kind of sorrow _now_ that she had carried _then_; she was a little confused to say the least. She had known that the boy's life hadn't been all fun and games, the exact opposite in fact, but he had never seemed to let it get to him in front on others in the same manner that he was doing so now. Maybe the merger had changed more about him than she had initially thought…

"I'm Umino Iruka." It was the scarred dolphin's turn, he seemed more apprehensive then the previous two, although that might be because he had known Naruto the longest…or that he wasn't used to dealing with these kinds of problems. Then again, with Naruto as a surrogate son/little brother…well, let's just say that the abnormal outweighed the normal or 'healthy' any day.

The blonde's blue eyes shimmered once again, although this time there was less sadness in their depths than when in regard to the prior two. His lips quirked up into a mischievous grin that was just short of devilish.

"Ah yes, Iruka-sensei, Academy teacher, toukubetsu chunin, and former number one prankster of Konoha Ninja Academy before passing the title down to one Uzumaki Naruto. Notorious for his love of ramen and for one jinchuuriki as well as for all the students in his care. Also well known for his strong dislike of perverts in general and has reactions towards such characters almost on par with the Godaime Hokage." Here the grin melted into a genuine smile of affection, "He was the uncle I didn't have and he has kept me going since the death of my grandmother. He was instrumental in the raids against the Akatsuki-

_(at the mention of the infamous cloaked group, everyone in the room tensed and looks of hatred at varying degrees passed across their countenances)_

-although he was only at the level of chunin, he managed to take down the blonde clay-user, Deidara through the use of advanced water jutsus. He is currently single due to the death of his spouse during the Oto/Konoha War."

Iruka looked rather stunned by this statement as well as by the information that he had, in the blonde's mind at least, taken down an Akatsuki member, and not just any member, but the one that had brought down the Godaime Kazekage of Sunagakure. Subaku no Gaara, a man that had only been defeated by two people to date, Uzumaki Naruto and Akatsuki no Deidara.

Tsunade raised both her eyebrows in astonishment and exchanged a look with Kakashi. She had spoken with the group before allowing them to meet with Naruto like this. She had explained about her suspicions about a merger occurring between the Kyuubi and the whiskered boy and asked them to keep it in mind while talking with him. She had thought at the time that what his mind came up with in relation with each of them would help them to understand just how much he had changed as well as how he had subconsciously felt about each of them in general as those feelings would never fully disappear from the young man.

It disturbed her a bit that both herself and the young man's jounin-sensei were dead in his mind. It said many different things about how he felt about them subconsciously; although he did appear to care a great deal that they were 'dead'. It didn't really surprise her that Iruka was thought of as powerful in the fox vessel's mind as someone capable of taking down one of the Akatsuki who threatened his life. He had always looked up to the academy teacher from what she knew, and the thought of him taking out the first successful Akatsuki to kidnap one of his first friends didn't shock her as much as it apparently had shocked a few of the others in the room. Iruka stared at the blonde jounin for a few seconds with his mouth hanging open. Sakura's expression was close to that of her old sensei while Sasuke's eyes widened and he blinked for a few moments. Kakashi looked a little taken aback but, otherwise, showed no difference in expression.

Tsunade was a little worried at some of the memories that her little brother's mind had conjured up. There appeared to have been a horrific war between Konohagakure and Orogakure, and while the two villages weren't exactly friendly (far from it actually) they weren't even close to being in all out war. If his memories of such an event were skewed so severely, she was worried about him ever really recovering. The thing that would be the most telling would be what he remembered of the sat two members of Team 7.

He seemed to know _about_ the Uchiha, but not know him personally. While he knew Sakura, but didn't appear to be close enough to use her first name or respected her enough to be more formal, although Tsunade couldn't picture how merging with the Kyuubi would instill _manners_ of all things in the gaki.

The one thing she was afraid of the most, and yet kept praying for, was that this was some horribly cruel elaborate joke that he had cooked up with Jiraiya. It was close to some of the things the old pervert would do when they were younger. But that just didn't sit well with her. Jiraiya had grown out of those tendencies and Naruto was never one to hurt his precious people intentionally. His pranks were annoying to the extreme to be sure, but they were never purposefully hurtful as this was becoming for them all.

Unless…

Unless this wasn't Naruto at all that they were dealing with.

The Kyuubi was cunning enough to pull something like this off, but she didn't detect any malice coming from the blonde. The Kyuubi may be cunning, but he would be unable to hide all of his killer intent from such skilled shinobi as those present in the room. That and his chakra would have a rougher feel to it than the chakra that she felt from the blonde gaki now.

**A/N:** Finally finished this...yeah, the talking and explaining isn't over yet, but it felt like the chapter was over...don't hunt me plese...


	5. Healer and Traitor

**Chapter 5: Healer and Traitor**

He glanced at the others in the room. They seemed to slowly be coming to terms with what he had said thus far. Iruka had taken a seat to the left of the blonde Hokage, but still across the table from her. He watched as the woman that was and wasn't his grandmother and the man that was and wasn't his uncle traded glances. They seemed to be handling what he had said the best. Sakura had a blank look in her eyes as she went into the medic-trained part of her personality. The part that allowed her to think through emotional information without letting it control her actions.

She was scared at what this could mean for her teammate. He had become like a younger (and annoying) brother to her. And now it looked like he didn't even think of himself as himself anymore. To top that off, his memories of them were scrambled as well. A glint of determination came to her eyes as the blankness of her medi-nin persona melted away to be used another time. If he remembered enough for it to get mixed up like that, then there was hope that they could straighten this memories out.

Sasuke seemed to be having an internal war with himself. About what, the young blonde had no idea.

It's not like he had ever spent time around the Uchiha heir. The man had been as good as dead by the time he had first come face to face with him.

And then they had killed him.

He shook his head.

No.

He wasn't going to think about that. Not yet. Not until he found Mika and made sure she was okay.

He glanced back at the silver-haired jounin, who was still leaning back against the wall by the window to the Hokage's office. His lone visible eye was bright, yet solemn at the same time. The blonde shook his head, he still wasn't sure how the older man was able to look like he was feeling or portraying two completely opposite emotions _at the same time_. It had irritated him as a child and it still irritated him now that he was an adult. Maybe it had something to do with that mask...

He was snapped out of his thoughts as the young medi-nin cleared her throat and inclined her head towards him.

"Haruno Sakura." Her voice was warm, yet controlled, as if she was giving a report to a close family friend, but trying to remain impersonal at the same time. Something that she had always been able to do around him, although it lacked the usual pride that had always been in her voice when speaking with him. He shook his head minutely to clear his thoughts, he had to remind himself that she didn't know him here, and so wouldn't address him as familiarly as he was used to. It was one of the reasons why he was so formal in his own address of her. He needed to remind himself of how to act.

Blue eyes met and held green irises before blinking. "Haruno Sakura, where to truly begin here?" The young blonde reached up and scratched just under his chin while slitting his eyes with a far-away expression on his face. His lips split in a slight grin, showing no teeth, before he continued.

"Haruno Sakura, apprentice to the Slug Sannin, medi-nin, jounin-sensei. Haruno-san…I still find it interesting that I call her that." Here, the blonde smiled softly, "Haruno Sakura was a close friend to my family all of my life. She was with us when my mother died and she helped in my training. She had superior chakra control to just about anyone else I have ever met, with the exception of Yakushi Kabuto. She taught me most, if not all of what I know in regards to my own chakra."

The young man frowned momentarily, "She was rather scary when I tried to slack off now and then, not that I tried to do so too often you understand." His face slid into a mischievous smile, "I remember that she had the most frightening punishments. She once made me search for the Fire Lord's wife's cat with a blindfold on because I had been late to practice 'without a suitable excuse'. She said that my reasons 'wouldn't even have made Kakashi-sensei amused in his heyday'. She was a good sensei. I was honored to call her shishou, though she regularly got onto me for referring to her in such a formal manner as she had known me as a toddler."

His eyes dimmed a little before brightening noticeably, "She never married, though she was engaged to do so at one point. She was killed several years ago trying to fight off an attack on the Hokage. Father was never the same after her death. No one really was." He swallowed uncomfortably as a hand reached up to his closed eyes before he released a shuddering breathe.

Sakura's face had gone pale as she stared with wide eyes at her friend. How on earth was she going to deal with that kind of response? She had no idea.

Things were quiet in the Hokage's office for a few minutes. So far, out of the group gathered, only one out of three people mentioned was even alive in the blonde's mind. How had he not had a nervous breakdown after waking up? According to his own words, the people in the room with him upon regaining consciousness were either all dead or someone who he professed to never have even met!

Tsunade wasn't looking forward to what would be needed in order to bring Naruto's mind from whatever damage had been done to it. That is, if the damage wasn't irreparable.

She wondered if they would need to call in just about every person that was close to the blonde jounin to see just what his reactions would be to them as well. She did not look forward to this at all.

"Uchiha Sasuke."

The blonde tilted his head and narrowed his eyes slightly as he took in the seated person next to him. He idly wondered if he should pull any more punches with the type of information he was giving away. In the end he just shrugged and carried on the way he had been before.

"Uchiha Sasuke. The Traitor, the Betrayer, the One Who Got Away. Whatever you want to call it, most of Konohagakure rejoiced at his execution as far as I could tell at the time. There were precious few who didn't, and I'm pretty certain that I don't need to tell anyone here just who those few were." He paused to take in the effect his words had on those present. The rest of Team 7 looked chalk-white, though the two males didn't look overly surprised, as if they had almost been expecting this.

He continued, "He was the third team member to Hatake's Team 7 and the last known male survivor of the sharingan. One of the two survivors of the Uchiha Massacre at the age of seven. He was often hailed as a prodigy in the Academy, but that was only up against most of the current class, when held up against those of his own clan, he was slightly above average and only that because of his motivation." The blonde bared his teeth at the Uchiha who looked slightly irritated beneath his pallor, "He was someone I never met, in battle or out of it and the one time that I ever saw him was at his execution when I was six. Father seemed sad, but resigned at the time, and I don't think he's ever really changed how he felt about the man that is seen as a worse traitor than his older brother."

He didn't feel the need to elaborate on why that was. Uchiha Itachi may have become a nuke-nin and slaughtered almost his entire clan, but other than joining an organization that seemed bent on, eventually, controlling the world, he hadn't ever really joined a rival Hidden Village that was founded by Konohagakure's most notorious traitor since Uchiha Madara. Orochimaru was seen as worse than Uchiha Madara in some quarters in the village. After all, Orochimaru had grown up in the village while Madara had once been bitter enemies with the Senju clan. Uchiha Madara turning traitor to Konohagakure several years after its founding because of political differences was usually excused, to a degree. Orochimaru's wasn't given any kind of lee-way, and neither had Uchiha Sasuke's. They still didn't know just how much information the Uchiha had given the Snake Sannin once he'd joined Otogakure.

The Uchiha looked slightly stung, as in, if you could read Uchiha facial features he looked like he'd been pole-axed. If you couldn't, then he looked like he'd somehow gotten a paper cut. He waited, he knew that they would ask, knew it before he said it, but it was his only chance at finding out, through their reactions, if they knew anything about Mika. He'd already gone long enough without knowing what had happened to her.

If they didn't know anything or reacted in such a way that disproved who they were, well, he hadn't given away any information that wasn't already common knowledge. There was always the amnesia back-up if they were who they said they were. Amnesia didn't only mean that a person lost all of they're memories. It could mean that they lost parts and wouldn't know which parts because everything was all scrambled up. The best case studies on amnesia that he had studied involved people who hadn't even been aware that anything was wrong with them.


End file.
